The Battle for Praedith
by GWW
Summary: On the Tau world of Praedith, Imperial forces begin their assault. Both Colonel Tomas Haldurn of the Cadian 937th Armoured Regiment and Captain Hadrick Borais of the Imperial Fists are prepared for battle. But nothing shall prepare them for Praedith.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note**: This is my first fanfic, sorry if it's not very good. Any reviews appreciated.

I do not own Warhammer 40k

**Praedith**

**Tau Colony World**

The Space Marine Captain tightened his grip on his thunder hammer as the drop pod smashed into the planet's atmosphere, tensing in readiness for when he landed. He could faintly hear the firing of Tau railguns on the surface, and explosions as Tau and Imperial aircraft fought in the skies. The drop pod slammed into the ground with a jarring impact, even for a Space Marine. The sides dropped down, revealing Tau troops taking up firing positions. Smiling grimly beneath his helmet, Captain Hadrick Borais he raised his Storm Shield and went to work.

The Imperial Guard Colonel Tomas Haldurn raised his power sword in salute to the priest who stood in front of him, knowing the platoon behind him would be performing the same gesture with their lasguns.  
"For The Emperor!" The guardsmen echoed the priest's words.  
"Landing in one minute. Bolter cannons primed for covering fire- get ready."  
The guardsmen snapped their lasguns into a firing position as they assembled into a circle around the Priest, Commisar and Colonel as the pilot spoke. Suddenly, the lander lurched violently as a thick black smoke enveloped the troops.  
"Impact! Impact! Tau aircraft, firing a second salvo!"  
The lander lurched again, "We're coming down hard! Prepare for emergency evac, lander doors opening!"  
Slowly the lander's doors opened, revealing snowy plains and heavy Tau weapons fire. Grabbing a parachute from the rack, Tomas watched as a Valkyrie was blown apart by a railgun shell, one guardsman managing to jump out before being enveloped by smoke.  
"Go, go, go!" cried the Commisar, "No hesitation! In the name of the Emperor!"  
Tomas jumped, the parachute billowing out a few seconds later. Down below, he could see irregular flashes of boltgun fire, mixed with pulse rifle fire and lasgun discharges. Behind him, the searing wreckage of the lander smashed into the unlucky Priest, who cried prayers to the Emperor as he fell. He saw the red dot of a markerlight fall on the guardsman next to him- a sergeant- who cried out in horror when he saw it, his screams cut short as a barrage of Tau fire smashed into him.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: I do not own Warhammer 40k

Carefully, the squad landed in a loose formation, the Colonel quickly rallying them towards the Commisar. Drawing his laspistol, the Colonel shot a Tau Fire Warrior in the helmet, before being drawn into vicious close combat with a group of Kroot. Power sword in hand, he began hacking away at alien arms and legs, and he occasionally caught sight of a Space Marine in heavily ornate power armour, with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield, doing the same. More landers came down nearby, most deploying Leman Russ tanks, although one deployed a Baneblade and one another two platoons of guardsmen.  
"You! Colonel! What's your name?"  
"Colonel Tomas Haldurn, sir, 637th Cadian Heavy Armoured Regiment."  
"Captain Hadrick Borais, Imperial Fists 3rd Company." he turned to a Space Marine by his side, "Where in the Emperor's name are those Predators?"  
Slowly, behind them, the Baneblade aimed its cannon ready to fire at a Tau power generator complex.  
"Firing in three, two, o-"  
Next to the massive war machine the troops covered their ears, only to be knocked to the ground as the flaming wreckage landed around them.  
"What the feth was that? Get me a vox, now!"  
Another tank exploded- this time, Tomas saw why. Six railgun shells had smashed into it, completely obliterating all inside, and rupturing the fuel tanks.  
"Fething Emperor, get down! Air support, air support!"  
"No air support will be needed, colonel."  
"Oh no?"  
"No."  
Tomas' response was cut off by the sound of heavy bolter fire. There was an explosion from above, and both the Colonel and Space Marine looked upwards to see a Broadside Battlesuit fall forwards- falling off the ledge it had been firing from, onto the wreckage of the Baneblade. Around it, the five others began to turn to flee, but were swiftly demolished by Assault Marines. With a salute to Captain Hadrick, they turned away and jumped up to join in with the battle between three Crisis Battlesuits and a squad of Sisters of Battle Celestians, of the Order Of The Bloody Rose. A Chaplain charged past, crying praise to the Emperor, before he was stopped by the Captain.  
"Yes, my lord?"  
"How is morale among the troops?"  
"As always, we of the Imperial Fists fight with valour and courage in His name."  
Tomas could hear the capital letter slide into place, in the way capitalised words always managed to make themselves clear when Space Marines were speaking.  
"I was referring more to the Guardsmen, Brother."  
Tomas glanced at the Chaplain, "I can assure you, the guardsmen of the 937th Cadian Heavy Armoured Regiment will fight with valour and courage in His name."  
The Chaplain turned, "Questions of the Imperial Guard should be directed to Imperial Guardsmen. If you will excuse me, I have xenos to kill, in His holy name."  
"Colonel! We've found something in the main Tau complex!"  
Tomas turned to see a Kasrkin sergeant rushing over to him.  
"Sergeant Dorianis. What have you found?"  
"We think it's a titan, sir. Techpriests are on the way, but the complex is still under fire and needs support. They want Space Marines to come- some of the Sisters of Battle think it might be corrupted."  
The Space Marine Captain smiled beneath his helmet.  
"Battle brothers! We have a Titan to protect. Sergeant, find me Techmarine Garcius. Tell him to meet me in the complex."  
"Commisar! Rally the men! You! Vox-caster! Call in a Marauder bombing strike on the Tau generator complex. That'll throw them. Go, go, go!"  
"Sir, yes, sir!"

Tomas arrived at the Tau complex to find Sisters of Battle holding Vespid off with flamers, slowly falling back.  
"Guardsmen- firing lines. Hold this xeno scum back."  
The Vespid screeched as they saw the guardsmen, the leader grasping the lead Sister in its claws and ripping her head off. The Inquisitor in command of the squad stepped forward to slice it in half with his power sword. The squad pulled back, leaving the guardsmen a clear firing line. They made full use of this, lasgun volleys punching into the Vespid and quickly felling them.  
"Inquisitor!"  
"Ah, Colonel! Thank you for your help there! Please, follow me to the Titan- but, please, be careful. Some of the techpriests feel it may be corrupted. Captain, do you wish to see the Titan?"  
"Of course. Lead the way, Inquistor."  
The Inquisitor led them into a larger room, in the plain, subdued style of Tau architecture, unlike the earlier room, which had been taken intact by the Tau two years earlier, when they completed their conquering of Praedith. It was a far larger room, with scaffolding erected around a massive structure in the centre- a Titan.  
"What is that thing?" Tomas whispered, more to himself than as an actual question.  
"An Imperator-class War Titan, Colonel. The finest we have found yet. Pre-heresy, although it has been modified by the Tau- modifications which should be removable without harming the Machine Spirit."  
"I understand there was a question of corruption?"  
"Indeed. That is why we have Inquisitor Gabius here. Hopefully, he will be able to cleanse the Titan of any Chaos taint."  
Tomas glanced at Hadrick- neither of them was happy about a lone Inquisitor attempting to cleanse the Titan, especially during a battle.  
"Gue'la! Surrender now, or by Tau we shall crush you!"  
Everyone in the room turned to see a Crisis Battlesuit hovering over the Titan's head, two drones next to it.  
"Xeno!"  
"The Titan is the property of the Tau, and the Ethereal lord Aun'o'T'au'Acaya'Va'Denta, Master of the Undying Spirit."  
"Never! Xeno scum!"  
The drones spun to point at Tomas, and fired. Falling back, the Colonel felt his power sword slip from his fingers and a deep, sharp pain blossom across both his shoulders- where the two shots from the drone had hit. As red clouded his gaze, he glimpsed Hadrick crying out in rage, a new scorch mark in his yellow armour.


	3. Chapter 3

Note: I do not own Warhammer 40k

"Ouch… Where am I?"  
Tomas opened his eyes to see a Space Marine apothecary standing over him.

"On board our battle-barge, colonel. You're lucky- Inquisitor Gabius managed to project a psychic shield around you. However, he is not a very experienced psyker, and it backfired, knocking him out and harming you. You'll need to keep out of combat for two more days, which is fine considering all ground forces have been pulled into orbit."  
"Why?"  
The apothecary glanced at another Space Marine- Hadrick.  
"A Hive Fleet has attacked again. It encountered a Eldar craftworld being attacking by Chaos Daemons and World Eaters Chaos marines. The Tyranids should by all means win, but Chaos shouldn't be underestimated. The Eldar don't have much choice, and a few survivors have come to ask for our help. We're awaiting reinforcements before we move in- they may take some time to arrive."  
"What about the Tau?"  
"They're preparing to help the Eldar, giving us the planet in return for help defeating the Tyranid and Chaos forces."  
Tomas lowered himself off of the hospital bed, "How large is the hive fleet?"  
"It's half of one. The rest is heading right for Cadia, and the Eye of Terror. I'd love to see the look on Abbadon's face when they arrive. But that's not our problem at the moment. We have our full first company, Chapter Master Vladimir Pugh, a Marines Malevolent battle-barge, two other Imperial Guard regiments and an Imperial Navy warfleet coming as reinforcements."  
"Let's just hope there are no… unpleasant surprises."  
Walking over to the door, Tomas turned to Hadrick.  
"Could I have a tour of your battle-barge?"  
"No. But you can come see the bridge, where I'm needed. Maybe one of my battle brothers will give you a tour."

Tomas let Hadrick lead him to the bridge. It was simple, unlike the bridges of Imperial Navy ships, with Space Marines stood around most of the consoles. A lone Navigator was sat at the front, an Astropath next to him. Tomas was surprised- the Space Marines all had their helmets off, laying bare how different they all really were. Like most Imperial Citizens, Tomas had assumed that most Space Marines were the same under their armour- at least, ones from the same chapter, for he knew that they weren't all the same. Instead they were vastly different- some old, a few young but most middle-aged, nearly all of them shaven and the majority shaven-headed. Tomas walked over to one of the consoles which a Space Marine wasn't stood at. It was the link to the ship which was observing the fight on the Eldar craftworld. It started to beep incessantly, making Tomas think he'd done something wrong, but realised it was something different; the Eldar ship, along with the Chaos warband's fleet and Tyranid hive ships, had disappeared. The dissipating signs of a Warp jump portal coloured the area.  
"Captain, do you know if the Eldar craftworld's Gellar fields are still active?"  
"No, why?"  
Tomas turned to face him, "If they aren't, the Tyranids are in for a surprise. How long do you think it would take to travel from the system the craftworld was in to here?"  
The Navigator turned in his chair, "I would say, around twenty-four hours. Why?"  
"Could you contact the Eldar survivors for me, astropath?"  
"He won't need to. They're on board one of the Tau ships. We'll contact them."  
Hadrick activated the ship's communication system, which had been installed by modifying a vox-caster to work with Tau communication systems.  
"Tau, this is Colonel Tomas Haldurn, on board the Imperial Fists battle-barge. Please may I speak to the Eldar?"  
"Of course, Gue'la'el. One moment please."  
A different voice came through the vox-caster- an arrogant, commanding and powerful voice. It's power was negated by tiredness and fear.  
"What do you want, Mon-keigh?"  
"Does your craftworld have Gellar fields?"  
"What are Gellar fields, Mon-keigh?"  
"Protection devices for travelling through the warp."  
"Yes, but they are usually deactivated to save power- we rarely use the warp, the webway is far safer, Mon-keigh."  
"Were they active when you left the craftworld?"  
"No, there was no need for them to be. Why do you want to know?"  
"We think the craftworld might have just jumped to warp."  
"Ceiba-ny-shak!" Now the voice was bristling with rage and undisguised terror, and Tomas was almost certain that the alien had just swore, "Tau! Show us!"  
"Of course. Transmitting files to your console now."  
Worried discussion could be heard, and then a new voice came in. It seemed wearier than the other, but was far more powerful.  
"I am Farseer Kaldanos, Mon-keigh. Prepare your forces for battle- the Tyranids will be weakened when they come out of the warp, for they do not use warp travel themselves but were merely sucked into the warp jump. Do you know where they will arrive?"  
"No, but if they are coming here they should arrive in a day. Our fleet should have arrived by then, but we're staying on alert anyway."  
"Good. We can continue this conversation later, now I must help what few Warlocks remain to strengthen our psychic beacon. We must contact another craftworld before the Tyranids arrive."  
"Our astropath will help you, Eldar."  
"Thank you, Mon-keigh."


	4. Chapter 4

Note: I do not own Warhammer 40k.

Tomas stared out of the window into the vast reaches of space. He was in one of the less protected parts of the battle-barge- it was the one area with no hull plating, and was used in battle by scouts, who acted as spotters in case the targeting systems failed, and was used as a social area for guests at other times. The second Imperial Fists battle-barge had arrived, along with the Marines Malevolent battle-barge, but the main fleet was yet to arrive.  
"Colonel, all ground forces on the planet are back on board _Imperial Power_. Major Jace wishes to speak with you."  
"Well, tell her to tell me herself, Lieutenant. Give _Imperial Power_'s Captain our thanks. I'm sure there will be other Dictator-class ships we can transfer troops to when the fleet arrives, so make sure the transports are ready in case they arrive soon."  
The young officer smiled nervously, "Captains Lysander and Borais have requested your presence on the bridge. A Tau delegation has arrived."  
Tomas turned to face the Lieutenant, "Thank you. You may go now."  
The young man turned away and walked off, Tomas turning in the other direction. Before long he had reached the bridge. He found Hadrick arguing with a Tau battlesuit- one of the smaller ones, he believed it was called an XV22. It was painted in white, with bright yellow trim lines, like the colour scheme on normal Tau armour but reversed.  
"Gue'la'O, we cannot rush the enemy! We will be crushed!"  
"Well we can't simply stand back like cowards! It would be dishonourable!"  
"It would be intelligent. Evaluate the enemy before you start fighting them- there tends to be little time for observation during battle."  
"I am fully aware of that, xeno."  
Tomas walked over to the Ethereal. A shorter Tau, in a wide rimmed hat which obscured his face, was stood next to him.  
"Hello."  
"Ah, hello. Colonel Haldurn, I presume. I am Aun'El'T'au'Shi'ur'Ko'vash. You may find it easier to call me Aun'El. This is Gue'vesa'el Lanton."  
"What does "Gue'vesa'el" mean?" Tomas asked.  
"Why don't you ask him yourself?"  
Tomas lifted the hat off of the Tau's head, revealing a Human face. It smiled.  
"Hello."  
"You're not Tau."  
"And you're not a Space Marine. So what?"  
"I'm not a traitor to the Imperium, either."  
"Ouch. That hurts, it really does. We prefer the term 'Differently Aligned'."  
"How about heretic?"  
"As much as I hate to burst your bubble, the thing you worship is a corpse on a throne."  
"The Emperor is not a mere 'corpse on a throne'!"  
"Of course not. He's a holy corpse, on a golden throne."  
Tomas drew his power sword.  
"Take that back, heretic!"  
A large hand pulled his power sword away- it was Lysander, his Terminator Armour withstanding the energy blade. Tomas looked around him, to find a burst cannon aimed at him.  
"Lower your weapon, Gue'la'el. Don't make me use this- it might disrupt negotiations somewhat."  
Lysander turned to the Ethereal.  
"I apologise for the Colonel's outburst."  
"You don't apologise for me, Space Marine. It is he who should be apologising. He is the traitor here."  
"There are worse traitors to slay. You will have your hands full of traitors and heretics and foul daemons once the Eldar craftworld arrives. You still need to rest. We will continue negotiations."  
"Don't order me around, Space Marine."  
Tomas turned to the door, glaring at Lanton for a second before striding away.  
Hadrick quickly resumed his argument with the Tau commander, and Lysander turned to the Gue'vesa'ui.  
"Just because I've defended you does not mean I like or support you. In my opinion, you're no better than a Tau drone."  
"It's not our fault you abandoned us at the end of the Damocles Crusade."  
"It's the Tyranids' fault we had to end the Crusade. Take your anger out on them."  
"Why should I? I don't need to do what you tell me anymore, Space Marine. I'm the one giving the orders now- I'm the highest ranking human in the Tau military."  
"And yet their name for you still means 'Human Helpers'. Not 'Human Soldiers', 'Human Helpers'. That doesn't seem like a sign of respect to me."  
"What do you know of respect- you pay homage to a corpse! If Aun'O'T'au'Acaya'Va'Denta was to die, we would not mount his corpse on a golden throne and call him a god!"  
"No, you'd just let his memory disappear and continue with your faithlessness."  
"You know nothing, do you, Space Marine?"  
The Ethereal turned to the Techmarine.  
"What is that?" he asked, gesturing to a flashing light on a console.  
"That would be indicating that an object has just entered the system. The fact that multiple lights are flashing indicates that more than one object has entered the system.  
He tapped a button, and a map appeared underneath the lights, showing their positions in the system.  
"That would appear to be our reinforcements."  
More lights began flashing.  
"I assume that is your reinforcements. All we need now is the Eldar reinforcements and we'll be ready."  
"Ah. What does that purple light indicate?"  
"That indicates that an unidentified fleet has entered the system. Why they all seem to be arriving at the same time, I do not know. The craft conform to Eldar ship designs. I would assume it is the Eldar fleet. We just need to get into formation."  
"Very nice. Shas'O, have you finalised the battle plan?"  
"Indeed, Aun'El. We hope to lure the enemy to the planet, ambush and annihilate them once they are on the ground, and attack what is left of the Craftworld, in boarding operations, to set off the Craftworld's main reactor, causing an explosion which will wipe out both the hive fleet and Mon'tau fleet, allowing our fleets to provide orbital support and destroy the remains of the enemy fleets."  
"Very good. We shall leave to coordinate our fleet now- I am certain Kor'O will be more interested in our battle plans than I."


	5. Chapter 5

Tomas looked up as the woman walked into the room. It was Major Avelyn Jace, second-in-command of the regiment and one of Tomas' closest friends. She was wearing a grey tunic with matching trousers, standard clothing for off-duty guardsmen and women, which contrasted with her naturally golden skin and hair.  
"Hello Avelyn. What is it?"  
"The General sent me to tell you that we'll be the ones acting as bait on the planet for the enemy. We'll have the Marines Malevolent forces, some Imperial Fists, the Inquisitorial forces and a small group of Tau remain helping us out."  
"Who'll be leading the Tau?"  
"It's a joint command- Shasel something and Guevesael Lanton."  
Tomas smiled at Avelyn. "It's pronounced "Shas'El" and "Gue'vesa'el". I haven't met the Shas'El, but I've had the misfortune of meeting Lanton. He's human. A heretic."  
A look of disgust passed over Avelyn's face. "Marvellous. I'm so looking forward to working with him."  
"At least he isn't a Genestealer. Or a Chaos Cultist. Or both."  
"Both? That would be horrible."  
Tomas stood up, "There's a battle plan meeting later, to finalise the battle plan. I'm going to have to talk to that heretic, that Eldar witch, an Inquisitor who knocked me out trying to protect me and a whole lot of Xenos."  
Avelyn grinned, "That sounds like fun. I have to go now- the Commisar wanted to talk to me."

Tomas said goodbye as she walked out, and sat back down, taking his book from the table to continue reading.  
Hadrick walked in through the doorway, glancing around the room.  
_Eldar- Farseer, two Autarchs. Tau Ethereal, three normal Tau, one traitor to the Imperium. Three Imperial Guard Colonels- Tomas, one General. Imperial Navy Admiral. Captain Lysander, Imperial Fists. Inquisitor- Gabius.  
_One of the Tau strode over to him, one of the others following.  
"Kor'O, may I introduce you to Captain Borais. He has been very helpful in planning our battle strategy."  
"It is a pleasure to meet you. As far as I know of Human culture, you are a great warrior, yes?"  
"Not as great as it may seem- there are one thousand of my battle-brothers in my chapter, divided into ten groups of one hundred, each of which is led by a Captain- like me- who answer to the Chapter Master. This is all in accordance with the Codex Astartes- however, some chapters, such as the Black Templars, do not adhere to the Codex Astartes. They prefer to work by their own rules- the Black Templars number three thousand, and are spread around the galaxy on crusades of penance to atone for the failure of the Imperial Fists in the defence of the Emperor during the Horus Heresy."  
Hadrick glanced at Lanton, who was talking to the Eldar Farseer, "It is traitorous scum like that fool over there who caused the Horus Heresy."  
The conversation was cut off as the Marines Malevolent Captain Haine stormed into the room, pushing past the Tau.  
"You! Why are my marines allocated to defend the planet?"  
"Why shouldn't they be?"  
"It is not work for loyal Astartes! Let the Xenos do it!"  
"Why don't you want your Astartes to do it? Are they so incompetent they can't defend a planet? Or are you worried you might accidentally kill all the guardsmen, and then write it off as 'acceptable losses'?"  
Inquisitor Gabius stepped towards the arguing Captains.  
"Captain Haine, you will do as ordered. Or do you want to attract more Inquisitorial attention?"  
Haine glared at Gabius, his piercing eyes burning with rage.  
"I am no Guardsman, Inquisitor."  
"You're lucky you aren't- if you were, you'd be dead by now."  
The Marine turned angrily to storm out the door, but a Techmarine rushed in, brushing him out of the way with his servo-harness.  
"The Craftworld has arrived."  
The room exploded into a flurry of action as Space Marines, men and Xenos alike rushed for the door. Hadrick was out first, followed promptly by the Inquisitor, then Captain Haine. Gabius was shouting into a handheld vox. Arriving on the bridge, Hadrick grabbed a vox, instantly being buffeted by a cacophony of voices asking for clearance to leave the ship. Hadrick answered each individually, before turning to the Techmarine, who had just arrived on the bridge.  
"This should be fun."

Tomas rushed up to the battle tank, swinging himself inside and climbing into the turret. It was an Annihilator variant, which, like the Space Marine Annihilator variant of their main battle tank, had twin-linked lascannons as its main weapon. Tomas had chosen it as his command tank. Around him in the lander craft, other tank commanders were climbing into their vehicles- he saw Jace climbing into an old Leman Russ Executioner, its three Plasma cannons- one on each sponson, and the Executioner plasma cannon from which the tank gained its name- powering up, ready to fire. Tomas checked his own weapons- the hull-mounted lascannon was also ready, and the sponson-mounted heavy bolters were fully loaded. The Techpriest came down the line of tanks as the lander pulled out of the carrier ship, heading for the planet's surface, as were Inquisitorial and Space Marine Thunderhawks, Tau Manta and Orca dropships, and countless other Imperial Navy aircraft. Guardsmen checked their lasguns as the ship dropped into the atmosphere, and Tomas checked the pintle-mounted storm bolter, slamming a new clip in when he found it was empty. The hatch slammed shut as the driver and loader climbed into the tank.  
"Wonderful day for an assault, isn't it Colonel?"  
Tomas grinned at the loader's comment. It was true, the snow planet below them was shining under the harsh light of its sun, in such a beautiful manner that even a Space Marine would have been awestruck.

Hadrick stood in the Thunderhawk's cockpit, watching as the ship shot towards the battling heretical and xeno fleets. The craftworld was horribly changed, covered in blistering sores that oozed blood. Indescribable colours flashed along it, burning Hadrick's eyes. Chaos had clearly taken hold- Nurgle had covered it with the sores, the blood was Khorne's symbol, and Tzeentch's sorcery was at work to further their influence, and Slaaneshi forces were presumably destroying the infinity circuit to release the Eldar souls to Slaanesh. Tyranid hive ships had attached themselves to the hull, and the Chaos fleet had swelled hugely. Hadrick could see Emperor's Children, Death Guard, World Eaters, Thousand Sons and Iron Warriors warships, mixed in amongst a myriad of former Imperial Navy ships ranging from pre-heresy craft to recently discovered STC designs. As if the crowning jewel of the fleet, the massive Death Guard capital ship Terminus Est sat surrounded by the lesser ships, as if they were merely larger versions of the massive cloud of warp spawned plague flies that constantly surrounded the ship. Hadrick watched as the Chaos fleet began to accelerate towards the Imperial warfleet- no, Hadrick realised, not towards the Imperials, but away from the Craftworld. The Hive ships detached from the Craftworld as well, and Hadrick noticed for the first time that smaller Chaos ships were shooting away from the Craftworld. A cold dread filled him as the Craftworld began to pulse with unearthly energies, every sore rupturing and spurting blood into space. He turned to the pilot.  
"Turn us around."  
"What, sir?"  
"Turn us around, and make sure the rest of the fleet does as well."  
The Imperial fleet opened fire on the Chaos ships as they plunged into the heart of the Imperial formation, ripping into them then emerging the other side, streaming towards the planet. The Hive fleet forced through the gap created, also heading for the planet, followed by Hadrick's Thunderhawk, then several others. The Eldar ships broke formation to give chase, as did the Tau, leaving the Imperials- the majority of the warforce- to attack the Craftworld, still not realising what was coming. The dark, Chaotic energies grew more intense as the Imperials finally realised what was happening, but by then it was too late. Hadrick turned his head away as the Craftworld exploded, a massive scream tearing through space, reaching the minds of everyone in the system without touching their ears. The Thunderhawk's engines cut out and the lights of the Imperial fleet disappeared into darkness, the surviving ships fleeing towards the planet as the Chaos fleet finally turned to crush the Eldar and Tau. Hadrick lifted the unconscious pilot out of his seat and onto the floor, and grabbed the controls, doing his best to fly the crippled ship towards Praedith.


End file.
